The Space Marine’s Command Tanks rules have been leaked. Check out the two images below to see the rules. These are something Space Marine players have been asking for for a very long time, and it’s finally going to happen. Forge World released the Damocles-pattern Rhino, which is similar to the Rhino Primaris in concept, almost five years ago.

The tanks are interesting in that they come as a unit, and the Excelsior is a Character. Obviously, this is so it can engage in close combat challenges with it’s tank adversaries. The whole unit clocks in at 400 points, which is 130 more than they would be without the bonus rules. Let’s see if the new rules justify the price.

First let’s look at the Excelsior. My first problem with it is that I will always see Al Gore from the South Park episode “ManBearPig”. He always yells “Excelsior!” right before going off on some misadventure.

On to the rules. Right off the top of the bat it gets an Aquila Aegis Field, which grants it a 6++ invulnerable and ignores Shaken and Stunned. This is crazy good for a tank with AV 14 all the way around. The stayability of this guy is monstrous.Read More…

While there may have been some doubt that Forge World’s new model is a Warlord Titan, those doubts have been removed today. Forge World’s bulletin #59 went out today, and shows the Warlord head in all it’s glory. This is going to be both an awesome model, and an enormous model. I really can’t wait for this to come out; I’ve been waiting almost 20 years! I also am still wondering what the price will be. I’ve recently adjusted my guess up to $2000. Only time will tell, however.

I had figured that the Assassins update coming to Warhammer 40,000 would be a mini-codex release, but it turns out that it is a board game release instead! Games Workshop released Assassinorum – Execution Force this last weekend, and it’s a strange release to say the least.

Here’s what Games Workshop has to say about this.

A brand-new boxed game, Assassinorum: Execution Force gives four Imperial Assassins an incredibly important mission – slay Chaos Lord Drask before his dark ritual brings about the end of the Imperium itself! A fast-paced co-operative game for one to four players, it blends stealth, tactics, subtle forward-thinking and outright blazing violence into a fantastic, tense, action-packed experience that is accessible to board game players of any level.

This is pretty exciting, as we haven’t seen an assassin redesign in almost twenty years. That said, it’s very odd that you have to buy an entire board game just to get some cool new models. This is similar to the Space Hulk fiasco from a while back where the Blood Angel Terminators were considered some of the best 40,000 models released, but you had to buy a shitty board game to get them. Will you be buying these new assassin models, even if you have to buy a board game with them? Let us know in the comments!

The Forge Worldbulletins continue to be a font of great upcoming models. This week, in Bulletin #58, they show off the Warlord Titan’s weapon options. Clearly included is a Turbo Laser Destroyer, which also features on the Warhound Titan. There is also another gun which is almost certainly a Quake Cannon, which has been mentioned in various other sources as well.

What do you think? I’m pretty excited for finally seeing a Warlord Titan. They’ve been rumored about for years, and I’ve seen more than a few subpar scratch-built ones, so I’m excited to see what the “real deal” looks like.

I also think we should have some sort of MI40K betting pool as to how much a whole Titan will cost. I’ve got my bets pegged at $1800 USD right now. Let me know how much I’ve nailed it or missed the mark in the comments!

Forge World’s latest bulletin, Bulletin #57, has a teaser image at the end of it. This is almost certainly a picture of a new Warlord Titan. It absolutely dwarfs a regular Space Marine, who barely comes up to the top of his toes. There’s been lots of cool (and also not-so-cool) scratch-built Warlord Titans over the years, but it will nice to finally have this largest of Titans with official rules and an official model. I already called the bank about a second mortgage, because I imagine this thing will cost thousands of dollars.

It really shows how much things have changed in the last five years. Before MI40K was hacked and went down from 2012-2014, there was 15 or 16 codexes, and it was possible to know every single rule for every army. Now there are dozens of hardcover books, and even the huge Forge World catalog is a legal thing to bring to the table. Personally, I think that this is a good thing for hobbyists and a bad thing for tournaments. We are discussing running another MI40K tournament sometime soon, but figuring out the rules for it might be tough. On the other hand, having all these silky sweet models to build and gawk over is awesome. It’s a tough call on whether this is a positive change or not.

We’re reviewing the rest of the new Forge World releases today. This is the other half of our earlier review. Instead of showing off all the upgrades and bobbins, this article will focus on the two big model releases. Without further adieu.

The rules are available on their site. The Laser Destroyer is first and foremost and awesome-looking model. If I designed models, “Stick a shitload of Lascannons on it” would be my mantra for most things. Bringing this to the table is like surfboarding down an avalanche of skulls while shredding a sweet guitar solo and banging a supermodel. It’s that awesome.
The rules are, however, better than when we reported on it earlier. It’s a 130-point tank, and it comes with a single Ordnance, AP1 twin-linked Lascannon shot. That’s not that great, but it’s not terrible either. However, you can now fire twice if you sit still, and you can fire three times if you stand still and take what amounts to a Gets Hot roll. That’s a lot better, making this better than a standard all-Lascannon Predator!
I will never accept that this has four barrels and fires one, two, or three shots. I know the fluff is that it’s shooting them offset with a miniscule difference to “drill into” enemy armor, but it just feels like it should be a four-shot tank.
Here’s the Forge World write-up and a few pictures.

Tearing through the armour plating of enemy vehicles, the Vindicator laser destroyer array is a potent weapon of destruction. First retrofitted into the heavily armoured Deimos pattern Vindicator chassis during the dark days of the Horus Heresy, several Legions took to fielding this variant as a mainline battle tank, proving itself on many occasions as an able tank hunter. After millennia of brutal warfare across the galaxy, it is still in favour within the Space Marine Chapters, the Vindicator Laser Destructor continuing to bring retribution to the enemies of Mankind.

The Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer may be fielded in Space Marine Legion armies in Horus Heresy games and also in Space Marine armies in standard games of Warhammer 40,000. Its updated rules can be found HERE.

The rules for this guy are experimental, but available. This guy is an absolute monster, clocking in near 300 points. His S8/T8/W4/2+ armor save are basically a necessity to keep him moving, so he comes appropriately defended. He’s also packing a S10 Lascannon, which is pretty insane. He’s also got a Gravity-Gun-esque Graviton Ram that helps add a little punch if he’s going to be shooting something. He most likely will be focused on shooting tanks and buildings, though. He does need to shoot Troops to assault them, but his inability to run or Sweeping Advance really takes the punch out of assaulting.
The other neat part about the Ram is that it acts as a D weapon against buildings. This is very fun, as usually buildings feel just about impenetrable. This guy may be shooting as he lumbers across the field, but if he does end up next to a building it’s going to have a bad time.
Overall, I really like this unit. The game needs more on-foot Monstrous Creatures, and this guy has a great model and some decently balanced rules. I’d have to play it a few times to be sure, but I think Games Workshop landed on a winner, here.

The Thanatar-Calix class Siege-automata is a potent war machine and a wonder of the Mechanicum’s craft. Combining arcane and secret technologies, it carries a twin-linked mauler bolt cannon alongside a rare solex pattern heavy lascannon, whose beams of coherent light can reach far across a battlefield to lethal effect. The Thanatar-Calix’s most destructive armament though is the graviton ram, a weapon whose origins are lost in the Dark Age of Technology. The ram’s crushing waves of gravitational force can pulverise infantry and vehicles alike, and it can be utterly devastating at both range and close quarters.

The Thanatar frame, designed as a heavy weapons platform, is well armoured and further protected by atomantic shield generators, making it nearly impervious to all but the heaviest of weapons fire. Whilst it is slow to advance, the Thanatar-Calix’s durability allows it to close steadily on its target, moving ever nearer until its formidable weaponry can be brought into range.

The Thanatar-Calix may be taken in any Mechanicum army, including the Taghmata Omnissiah, Legio Cybernetica and Ordo Reductor army lists, in Horus Heresy games. Experimental rules for the Thanatar-Calix can be found HERE.

Here’s a quick rundown of the new Forge World releases that don’t involve entire new models. We’ll have another article up within a day of the new Mechanicus and Space Marine models.

Raven Guard Upgrades

Available for Pre-Order May 1st
These are straight-forward upgrades for the Raven Guard. Featured are Mark II, III, IV, and VI shoulderpads, in order below. There’s also Mark VI heads and torsos. These are solid sculpts and would be a great addition to any Raven Guard army.

Skilled infiltrators and masters of reconnaissance, the Raven Guard Legion was the hidden hand of the Emperor from even before the time of the Great Crusade, hunting down any who would not bend the knee to the Imperial truth. Striking from the shadows, the XIXth Legion is ever prepared for enacting rapid, overwhelming assaults from unexpected quarters against the enemies of Mankind.

Via our old friend inkzoo, we’ve got the rules for the Assassin’s formations and wargear. This does look like a mini-release just to get the new figures out the door, but those figures are awesome enough to warrant it. These are also color images of the previous ones we’ve seen, which is pretty cool.

We’ve received images of the new Assassins mini-release that’s coming out shortly. The rules look completely identical to the Assassins codex, so this is most likely just a way to release the new models. This should be a good release even without new rules, based strictly on how awesome Assassins are.